Huntsville schools awaiting word on grants to help in 'restarts' of Westlawn Middle, Dawson Elementary

Westlawn Middle School, pictured, is undergoing a "restart" this fall, which includes a new principal and about 90 percent new faculty and staff. (The Huntsville Times/Dave Dieter)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Huntsville school officials are awaiting official word on whether they will be awarded about $6.5 million in federal grants to help turn around two of the district's most troubled schools.

Superintendent Casey Wardynski told The Times and the city school board last week that he is confident the district will be awarded the money to aid in the "restarts" at Westlawn Middle School and Dawson Elementary, formerly known as West Mastin Lake Elementary.

The district has requested about $3.2 million for each school, which would be doled out in $1 million increments over a three-year span.

The federal program offers four models for school turnaround: the school closure, restart, turnaround and transformation models. Under the school closure model, a school is simply shuttered and students are transferred to a higher-achieving school.

In the restart model, a school is closed and either reopened as a charter school or reopened under the supervision of an outside education management group.

The turnaround model has a district replacing a school's principal, screening existing staff and rehiring no more than 50 percent of the school's teachers. The school also adopts a new "governance structure" and works to improve achievement through curriculum reform, professional development, extended learning time and other strategies, the program website states.

Westlawn will follow the turnaround model, according to Cathy McNeal, the Huntsville district's director of research and development.

McNeal told the board at its June 7 meeting that Westlawn's learning time will be extended by 60 minutes per day and teachers will have "job-embedded" professional development. The district will also use student achievement data to, on a continuous basis, monitor students' improvement.

There will also be great focus on behavior management and community engagement, particularly regarding parental involvement.

Wardynski said 90 percent of Westlawn's staff is being replaced, from the principal to custodians.

"It is surprising who makes a difference in a school," Wardynski said.

The board on May 21 demoted Westlawn's former principal, Frazier Barnes, to classroom teacher at Huntsville Middle. He will be replaced by Lynette Alexander, former principal of Ed White Middle. That same day, about a dozen of Westlawn's certified staff were given their transfer papers.

Wardynski said the transfer of faculty will give the teachers themselves a fresh start at a new school.

"This is their restart, too," Wardynski said.

Dawson will fall under the program's transformation model, McNeal said. According to the Office of School Turnaround, the transformation model includes replacement of the principal and improvement of the school through similar measures as the turnaround model.

Dawson Elementary, formerly known as West Mastin Lake Elementary, will also undergo a "restart" this fall. (The Huntsville Times/Robin Conn)

The board on May 21 named Dawn Ashley, former principal of Ridgecrest Elementary, as John Humphreys' replacement at Dawson. Wardynski said he was moving Humphreys solely to qualify the school for the school improvement grant. About 70 percent of Dawson's faculty is also being replaced.

Dawson students will find their instruction time extended by 30 minutes, McNeal said. Teachers there will also have professional development opportunities similar to those at Westlawn, and the school will have the same focus on community engagement and elimination of behavior problems.

Both schools will have instructional programs aligned with standards-based teaching through the one-to-one technology being implemented this summer, McNeal said.

Dawson may still offer students transfers to other, higher-achieving schools in the system, but Westlawn will not. McNeal said the middle school's history of test scores under the federal No Child Left Behind Act is being completely erased and restarted, wiping away the requirement to offer all students the choice of another school.

Westlawn in 2011-2012 was in its seventh year of school improvement for missing testing goals under No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Dawson met its goals, but remained in school improvement status because it failed to meet its benchmarks for two consecutive years.

Wardynski told The Times that at a cost of $3 million per year to operate Westlawn, he estimated the district had lost $21 million on poor instruction.

"We wasted $21 million because no one's been learning at Westlawn for seven years," Wardynski said.

The school improvement grants are awarded through a program of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of School Turnaround, which gives the grants to state education agencies. The state agencies then award the competitive subgrants to local districts.